Thomas J. Long

Thomas J. Long, born in this city in 1852, graduated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1873, served in the Department of Docks under George S. Greene, Jr., Engineer-in-Chief, for eleven years; was connected with the Union Bridge Company of New York for nine years as General Agent, having charge of several of the largest bridges of the West, including that across the Ohio at Cairo and the Merchants’ Bridge at St. Louis. Subsequently in practice as an engineer and contractor he was engaged on the enlargement of the Erie Canal, was Vice-President of the firm of R. F. & J. H. Staats, and Vice-President at the time of his death, of the Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company. It was an active career in which he developed professional skill of a high order, remarkable administrative ability, energy, and enterprise. In the course of successive visits to South America he made careful studies of the opportunities offered by the cities of the East coast and the valley of the Amazon, and, had he lived, would undoubtedly have done important work in those regions. He joined to technical knowledge and business talent the integrity that justified confidence and the candor and kindliness that win it. He was one of the soundest and pleasantest of men, whom it was a privilege to know, and his sudden snatching away was a cruel experience for The Century.

Edward Cary
1906 Century Association Yearbook